Friday, May 06, 2011

I was in the hospital last week after going to the E.R. and discovering a blood clot in my right leg, part of which had moved to the lungs. I'm out, on blood thinners and doing as well as ever. I can honestly report that I never said a prayer.

There's an article today on LiveScience which talks of a study about men, and how much they think about sex during the day. Seems that we think just as much about sleep and snacks as we do about doing the horizontal mambo. In all fairness, the study was conducted with college aged men. Had it included the over-50 set, they would have found that we also think as frequently about urination and various pains.

In a discussion recently, I complained that believers in various gods almost never try to engage me on the specifics of their god, choosing instead to turn the discussion to my atheism vs. some nebulous notion of god as a first cause. In turn I was told that it was me who was running from the "big question" of whether there is an ACME All-Purpose God of the Universe. Fine. I'm running. But until someone tells me exactly what they mean by god, I see no value in debating its existence.

Speaking of specific gods, I'd still like to know how Christians can be sure that Satan isn't the real Master of the Universe. Maybe Satan is the one who created everything, is every bit the joker he is described in the bible, put out this ridiculous bible to test the intelligence of his creation, and will punish all of those who die believing the Jesus fable. I'm guessing that they somehow know due to the very same reason, rationality and logic they used to become Christians in the first place.

Latest news on Osama Bin Laden - he's still dead. Ignorant Muslim fundamentalists still exist in the millions. We should get out of the wars we are in, but exploiting the on-going "jihad" is just worth too damn much money for too many people for that to happen. Besides, did you see all the monkeys swinging from trees, screaming "U.S.A! U.S.A.!" and informing our leaders that this issue has traction? Human beings (in general) are so much more ignorant than we'd like to think.

SI - Yes, as a matter of fact, it does qualify as a blood thinner. One of the things the doc wanted to establish was how many drinks a week I'd be having, as it effects how much Warfarin they need to prescribe.

This IS coming to the guy who was repeatedly asked 4 rather simple, mostly "yes" or "no" questions about his beliefs, was asked REPEATEDLY and and never once provided anything beyond excuses for not answering? In fact, is it not a fact that on most of the occasions you were asked these four questions regarding your individual dogma, you completely ignored the question?

Anyway, my posting HERE is not about you cl. It's about my general experiences. You write about YOURS... and I'll write about MINE... and we'll leave it to the gentle reader to draw their own conclusions.

Thanks for the kind words re: my health. I have indeed been feeling better.

"This IS coming to the guy who was repeatedly asked 4 rather simple, mostly "yes" or "no" questions about his beliefs, was asked REPEATEDLY and and never once provided anything beyond excuses for not answering?"

Uh, not "excuses," John, valid reasons: at the time I refused to answer those questions, I wasn't making any attempt at defending my beliefs, and I was within reason to avoid derailment of the questions, if you catch my drift. While you can interpret my reluctance to answer however you wish, I assure you that my sole motive was to avoid shifting the topic to what I believe when we were typically discussing what you believe. Make sense?

You might recall that when I shifted into, "Okay, let's talk about what I believe," I gave you direct answers to those questions, and those same answers are on my blog to this day. So... don't sit there and pretend like I refuse to engage in an intelligent conversation about what I believe, because that's simply not true.

"In fact, is it not a fact that on most of the occasions you were asked these four questions regarding your individual dogma, you completely ignored the question?"

As I just explained, yes, that was a fact. Why do I need to tell you my views on religion A, B or C when I'm trying to evaluate your views for coherency? Duh.

"Anyway, my posting HERE is not about you cl. It's about my general experiences."

I never said it was about me, but one fact you cannot deny: I am a part of your general experiences. Therefore, when you say, "...believers in various gods almost never try to engage me on the specifics of their god," you can expect me to pipe up and say, "I'm not one of them."

So, the ball, as always, is in your court. Let's hear your best arguments and/or evidence either for things you believe, or against things I believe.

Actually, let's not. You've already gone on record to say you would worship the God of the Bible even if that God walked through your front door, so... can't pour tea into a full cup, right?

SI,

"That old "irony meter" joke is so worn out, but I'm still so tempted to use it here..."

I know, right? That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that post where you were whining about being censored by that priest, when in fact, you are amongst those who censor others. Ah, yes... irony meter broken!